*Tulla’s U15B Shield winners.
Tulla produced an emphatic final display to cement the last Under 15 silverware of the season when overcoming Broadford by 2-25 to 2-09 on their way to the Under 15B Hurling Shield on Tuesday evening.
Triumvirate Emmet Mulcahy (1-7), Ryan Hayes (0-7) and Daniel Humphries (0-6) combined for a handsome tally of 1-20 as Tulla led from start to finish in an impressive showing on home soil.
An early Conor O’Brien goal set the tone as Tulla blazed into a 1-3 to 0-0 advantage by the sixth minute. So while a John Moran-led Broadford steadied the ship to halve the deficit, the hosts just seemed able to move through the gears when required to pull clear once more.
A seven point unanswered rally led by some excellent long range shooting through Emmet Mulcahy (3) and Daniel Humphries (2) stretched the gap to double figures, a margin that would be preserved by half-time despite a Broadford goal for Michael Vaughan at 1-16 to 1-06.
In a concerted effort to alter the narrative, Broadford re-emerged to hit 1-2 including a brilliantly worked Aodhan O’Driscoll goal to lower the arrears to just five by the 34th minute. Again however, it only seemed to motivate Tulla as Ryan Hayes and Humphries restored a ten point cushion by the three-quarter mark before an Emmet Mulcahy clinching goal on the restart left no doubt as to where the final Under 15 crown will reside.
In contrast, the first Under 13 honours were awarded on Sunday as the second teams of Kilmaley and Clooney-Quin proved goal hungry in garnering Academy Shield titles.
Kilmaley traveled to Fr. Murphy Memorial Park to take on hosts Newmarket-on-Fergus in the Academy A decider, with a lightening start laying the foundations for a 6-7 to 3-1 victory for the visitors.
Goals through Aidan Cleary (2) and Sam Switzer boosted Kilmaley into a 13 point advantage by the 15th minute at 3-4 to 0-0, with defensive anchors Seanie Connellan and Liam Keane proving just as effective in preventing Newmarket from settling into their stride.
Three Newmarket goals in the next two quarters from Tadgh Guinane, Rory Freeman and substitute John Burke made little inroads into the deficit after Aidan Cleary had completed his hat-trick to see Kilmaley remain in control at 4-6 to 3-0 by the final water break.
Cleary would actually finish with four goals while the versatile Liam Keane concluded the scoring with an injury-time major as Kilmaley ran out commanding victors.
Over in Clooney, it was the home side’s determined finish that cemented the Academy B Shield as Clooney-Quin edged out O’Callaghan’s Mills/Bodyke by 5-9 to 4-5 on Sunday.
Timely goals from James Canny, Marcus Fitzpatrick, Darragh Browne, Eli Deegan and Daniel Cleary were all required as despite leading throughout the opening period, the hosts found themselves trailing by 4-5 to 3-5 entering the final quarter after the amalgamation found their range through James Moroney, Aidan McInerney and Donnacha Lenihan.
Clooney-Quin refused to panic however and responded with a decisive 2-4 unanswered burst to prevail in what was a hugely entertaining nine goal thriller.
